Historians tend to see Reconstruction as a mix of successes and failures. Based on what you have learned about the goals and str
uggles of Reconstruction, in what ways did it succeed? Why do you think so? In what ways did it fail? Why? What ideas do you have for how Reconstruction could have been handled so it would have been more satisfactory for all involved? Would you have changed some of the decisions made by the government? How would you have addressed the strong feelings people had about their culture and way of life?
According to Digital History, historians have viewed Reconstruction as a success. They attribute this to the changing race relations that occurred centuries after in economic, social and political spheres.
Reconstruction was a turbulent time as the aftermath of the Civil War left unanswered the fate of former slaves. Congress responded by passing Constitutional amendments and laws aimed to help freedmen. Although, the South saw rise to the Ku Klux Klan which preached white supremacy and eventually political help from the North diminished. In that time, citizens considered Reconstruction to be characterized by corruption and used this to justify Jim Crow policies of the 1960s.
